Lashoff in for Smith and Gustavsson starting as Red Wings look to stay in playoff hunt

Detroit’s Gustav Nyquist (14) and Henrik Zetterberg (40) celebrate Nyquist’s goal in the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Washington Capitals, Sunday, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

DETROIT >> Quick update from the Wings’ morning skate prior to their game tonight against the Vancouver Canucks at Joe Louis Arena.

Jonas Gustavsson will start in goal and Brian Lashoff replaces Brendan Smith along the blue line.

Wings coach Mike Babcock shook his head no when asked if Smith was injured.

“I’ve seen lots from Lash so he’s going in,” Babcock added when asked what he’s seen of Smith lately.

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Smith drew a tripping penalty in overtime that led to the game-winning goal by Washington on Sunday.

The rest of the lineup remains the same.

Vancouver and Detroit find themselves in unfamiliar grounds as they both are battling for their playoff lives.

“Things do change,” Babcock said. “We haven’t been the same team since ’09. We’re aware of that. There are number of options in the league. You can be bad for 10 years and get a bunch of first round picks or you can just try and do it on the fly and that’s how we’re doing it, on the fly. We want to continue to make the playoffs and try and improve our team.”

Both teams are in the second of two wild card berths in their respective conferences.

“We have a lot of kids in our lineup right now that have played well for us,” Babcock said. “We just think we need time for them to make progress. If we can hang in there, ideally we’ll get (Pavel) Datsyuk back, he’s a key guy for us, no different than (Vancouver’s) big guys. He will be a key addition.”

Gustav Nyquist should learn if he’s going to the Olympics this afternoon as a replacement for Johan Franzen.

“We’ll see what happens here,” Nyquist said. “I think they’ll announce it tonight, Swedish time, so we’ll all know by this afternoon, I’m assuming, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

“It would be a lot of fun to go with all of these Swedes in this room, to go to Sochi and to represent your country in the Olympics is, would be something special, and I would be really excited for it,” Nyquist added.

Nyquist is making a strong case for it coming off his first career hat trick.

“Yeah, I guess it was good timing,” Nyquist said of his hat trick. “But again, I try not to think about it too much. They’re going to make the decision and I can only do my best over here to play as good as possible. I don’t know what they’re thinking for a replacement, what type of player they’ll need, or something like that, so we’ll see what happens and we’ll all know by the end of the day.”

Nyquist has eight goals and four assists in his last eight games.

Babcock said it’s got to be easy for the players in the locker room to not look ahead to the Olympics.

“All you have to do is look at the standings,” Babcock said. “I don’t know why you would have any trouble being focused at all. We’re in a battle for our playoff life. All the players know that and understand that. The other thing about it is if you’re not focused you get injured. And I don’t think anyone in here wants to be injured. They have to be dialed in and focused otherwise you’re not going to be helping the team.”

Send comments to chuck.pleiness@macombdaily.com and visit his blog at redwingsfront.wordpress.com